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Photo is of parent taxon

west Humboldt milkvetch

Photo is of parent taxon

Higgins' freckled milkvetch, Higgins' milkvetch

Habit Plants perennial (rarely flowering first year), 6–30 cm. Plants perennial, 15–25 cm.
Leaves

4–11 cm;

leaflets (9–)13–19, blades obovate or oblanceolate, 4–20 mm, apex mostly retuse, surfaces strigulose-villosulous, some hairs spreading or sinuous.

3–11 cm;

leaflets 15–21, blades lanceolate-elliptic to obovate, 8–18 mm, apex emarginate.

Racemes

(8–)12–30-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis (2–)3–7(–9) cm in fruit.

7–17-flowered, short and compact in fruit;

axis 1–4 cm in fruit.

Peduncles

2.5–7 cm.

3–6.5 cm.

Flowers

9.3–11.3 mm;

calyx (4.5–)5–7.1 mm, tube 3–3.8 mm, lobes (1.5–)2–3.3 mm;

corolla usually whitish, sometimes purple or pink-purple.

17–20 mm;

calyx 7–10.4 mm, tube 6–6.8 mm, lobes 3–3.5 mm;

corolla pale violet.

Legumes

green, faintly mottled, or stramineous, obliquely ovoid or subglobose, strongly inflated, 15–25 × (6–)8–14 mm, thinly papery, translucent, glabrous or strigulose;

beak 3–7 mm, unilocular.

green, sometimes mottled, becoming stramineous, ovoid, greatly inflated, 19–27 × 11–16(–19) mm, semibilocular, stiffly papery, thinly translucent, glabrous.

Seeds

18–26.

30–35.

Astragalus lentiginosus var. macrolobus

Astragalus lentiginosus var. higginsii

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul. Flowering Apr–early Jun.
Habitat On sand, with sagebrush. Sandy to loamy soils, with Ptelea-Rhus-Prosopis, and yucca, oak, mesquite com­munities.
Elevation 1100–1800 m. (3600–5900 ft.) 800–1100 m. (2600–3600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NV
from FNA
NM; TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Specimens of var. macrolobus, apparently flowering the first year, have been misidentified as Astragalus geyeri, which is clearly annual and has straight, appressed (not villosulous) indumentum. Variety macrolobus occurs in northern Nevada. To the north and east, it grades into var. salinus and to the west into var. floribundus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety higginsii, from Chaves County in New Mexico, and Hudspeth, Hutchinson, and Potter counties in Texas, almost certainly is a derivative of var. diphysus, differing only in its pale flowers.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 11. FNA vol. 11.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Diphysi > Astragalus lentiginosus Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae > Astragalus > sect. Diphysi > Astragalus lentiginosus
Sibling taxa
A. lentiginosus var. albifolius, A. lentiginosus var. ambiguus, A. lentiginosus var. antonius, A. lentiginosus var. australis, A. lentiginosus var. chartaceus, A. lentiginosus var. coachellae, A. lentiginosus var. coulteri, A. lentiginosus var. diphysus, A. lentiginosus var. floribundus, A. lentiginosus var. fremontii, A. lentiginosus var. higginsii, A. lentiginosus var. idriensis, A. lentiginosus var. ineptus, A. lentiginosus var. kennedyi, A. lentiginosus var. kernensis, A. lentiginosus var. latus, A. lentiginosus var. lentiginosus, A. lentiginosus var. maricopae, A. lentiginosus var. micans, A. lentiginosus var. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. multiracemosus, A. lentiginosus var. negundo, A. lentiginosus var. nigricalycis, A. lentiginosus var. oropedii, A. lentiginosus var. palans, A. lentiginosus var. piscinensis, A. lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius, A. lentiginosus var. pohlii, A. lentiginosus var. salinus, A. lentiginosus var. scorpionis, A. lentiginosus var. semotus, A. lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis, A. lentiginosus var. sierrae, A. lentiginosus var. stramineus, A. lentiginosus var. toyabensis, A. lentiginosus var. trumbullensis, A. lentiginosus var. variabilis, A. lentiginosus var. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
A. lentiginosus var. albifolius, A. lentiginosus var. ambiguus, A. lentiginosus var. antonius, A. lentiginosus var. australis, A. lentiginosus var. chartaceus, A. lentiginosus var. coachellae, A. lentiginosus var. coulteri, A. lentiginosus var. diphysus, A. lentiginosus var. floribundus, A. lentiginosus var. fremontii, A. lentiginosus var. idriensis, A. lentiginosus var. ineptus, A. lentiginosus var. kennedyi, A. lentiginosus var. kernensis, A. lentiginosus var. latus, A. lentiginosus var. lentiginosus, A. lentiginosus var. macrolobus, A. lentiginosus var. maricopae, A. lentiginosus var. micans, A. lentiginosus var. mokiacensis, A. lentiginosus var. multiracemosus, A. lentiginosus var. negundo, A. lentiginosus var. nigricalycis, A. lentiginosus var. oropedii, A. lentiginosus var. palans, A. lentiginosus var. piscinensis, A. lentiginosus var. platyphyllidius, A. lentiginosus var. pohlii, A. lentiginosus var. salinus, A. lentiginosus var. scorpionis, A. lentiginosus var. semotus, A. lentiginosus var. sesquimetralis, A. lentiginosus var. sierrae, A. lentiginosus var. stramineus, A. lentiginosus var. toyabensis, A. lentiginosus var. trumbullensis, A. lentiginosus var. variabilis, A. lentiginosus var. vitreus, A. lentiginosus var. wahweapensis, A. lentiginosus var. wilsonii, A. lentiginosus var. yuccanus
Synonyms Cystium macrolobum
Name authority (Rydberg) Barneby: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 89. (1945) S. L. Welsh & K. H. Thorne: Brittonia 33: 296, fig. 2. (1981)
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